Wipro to offer e-Learning skills to AMU students, India

News

By

-

June 4, 2007

Wipro Infotech has signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), India to provide training, skills and consultancy services to the latter's Centre for Distance Education in the university.

Under this MoU, Wipro will organise regular seminars and workshops by leading experts to train the staff and students of distance education in all aspects that concern e-Learning. The centre would be engaged in the development of electronic learning courses. The company will engage four students from the campus for training during summers, and shall also offer projects to the students of AMU in IT products marketing.

Educomp to provide computer education in Haryana, India

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 4, 2007

The New Delhi, India based e-Learning enabler, Educomp Solutions has signed an agreement with the Directorate of Secondary Education, Government of Haryana to introduce computer education in Government Senior Secondary Schools in the state.

The company will provide computer education in over 800 Government high schools using ICTs. It will cover schools in 12 districts namely, Ambala, Bhiwani, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Hissar, Jhajjar, Karnal, Mewat, Panchkula, Panipat, Rohtak and Sonipat across Haryana. Initially, Educomp will provide computer education in 716 schools. Under the agreement, Educomp will provide general computer education as per prescribed syllabus, impart basic computer training to teachers, provide bilingual books/courseware, provide two faculties in each school, maintain an MIS in close co-ordination with the concerned Head of the institution and lastly provide the Project Management team comprising of a Project Manager at Chandigarh and one District Coordinator per district for the smooth functioning of project.

WORLD

Magazine

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 1, 2007

Government approves 5 ICT initiatives for tertiary institutions of Ghana

Federal Government of Ghana has approved five ICT initiatives for the nation’s tertiary institutions to be coordinated and supervised by the National Universities Commission (NUC).

These five initiatives are Students ICT resource centres; computer acquisition scheme for lecturers; upgrade of websites; pooling of bandwidth requirements and video driven lectures. Each resource centre will consist of a cyber centre with at least 200 computers connected to high speed Internet through C-Band. Under this programme, four or more fully equipped classrooms for instructor-led technical training; provision of physical accommodation space for Students Career Counselling and Campus-wide wireless distribution to support future growth would be provided.

Uganda Govt provides solar computers to rural school

The Uganda Government has approved the proposal to provide solar powered computers to children in rural schools. The government has approved the production of the solar-powered computers for use in rural schools. This would be first kind of project in Uganda to provide computer skills to children in rural schools. The computer is powered by a small battery. Inveneo, a US firm based in San Francisco, will produce the computer. The cost of solar powered computer is about $250. It has Internet reception capability and is compatible with both wireless and Intranet.

Ugandan university goes digital

Makerere University in Uganda has become the first higher learning institution in East Africa to install new information and communication technology.

The installed information portal aims to enable students to settle school fees, register, manage their course work as well as crosscheck their assignments with the use of Internet. The portal also includes back end devices that include servers, storage devices, back up devices and a dedicated twenty four hour wide wireless access system through an interactive website www.mymubs.ac.ug that can be accessed at any Internet connection in the world. 15 universities in six other African countries, including Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria have already gone digital.

Digital Bridge Project launched in Liberia University

The Digital Bridge Project has made its public debut at the main campus of the University of Liberia. The Digital Bridge Project is aimed to bridge the digital divide in Liberian universities.

The laboratory includes 200 computers with access to a university Intranet, research database and a VSAT Internet connection. The project will help students to register for courses, get assessments and pay fees online. The aim of the multi-media PC laboratory at the University of Liberia is to partner with Liberia to accelerate its transition to a knowledge-based society in which the currency of exchange is information.

Brunei’s Education Ministry offers one click access service to teachers

The Ministry of Education, Brunei will allow teachers, students and other public members to access various services through new ICT project `MoE Enterprise Service Portal.’

The Education Ministry of Brunei has signed an agreement with local firm TechnoNet Sdn Bhd on the provision of the Enterprise Service Portal, which will set up all enterprise information management (EIM) systems in scale and functionality.

The MoE Enterprise Service Portal is one of the projects under the flagship of e-Education, which is categoried into five programmes, namely Edunet, e-Learning, Education Information System, Digital Library and Human Capacity Building. The portal will provide all services of Education Ministry into one framework, which would be accessed by administrative staff, teachers, students, and the public, according to their respective permissions. The application will run on Singapore-based solutions provider specialising in learning management systems, Dnium’s e-Learning engines and written in Sun Microsystem’s Java Enterprise Edition.

Morocco progresses in e-Learning programmes

Distance learning is gaining momentum in Morocco with help from both the public and private sector.

Around 15 percent of private companies are investing on distant learning programmes. The increased availability and functionality of IT has brought new teaching tools to the Moroccan market, including mobile phones, video- conferencing, e-mail, discussion forums, chat software and document sharing. Recently, Morocco’s finance ministry has decided to integrate a dedicated distance learning service into its organisational structure. The Ministry of National Education has begun work on an interactive television system (TVI), which aims to provide remote training for teachers across the Kingdom. Formademos, a local firm, has launched two Masters programmes aimed at university graduates with at least one year of work experience. One programme offers a degree in “education and employment systems technology”, and the other programme offers a degree in business administration. degree in business administration

The Knowledge Link From Book Racks to PCs

Magazine

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 1, 2007

Manoj Kumar

Acting Director
Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) Centre, Ahmedabad, India
director@inflibnet.ac.in

The objective is to facilitate academic communication amongst scientist, engineers, social scientists, academics, faculties, researchers and students through electronic mail, file transfer, computer, audio, video conferencing, etc. The objective is to establish a computer communication network for linking libraries and Information Centres in universities, deemed to be universities, colleges, UGC Information Centres, institutions of national importance and R&D institutions, etc. The objective is also to promote and establish communication facilities to improve capability in information transfer and access, that provide support to scholarship, learning, research and academic pursuit through cooperation and involvement of different stakeholders. Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET), the autonomous inter-university centre of the University Grants Commission (UGC) located at Gujarat University Campus, Ahmedabad, is engaged in modernisation of libraries and information centers for information transfer and access, to meet all these objectives and there by establishing a national network of libraries and information centres in higher learning in India.

INFLIBNET is a co-operative endeavor in resource development, sharing and its utilisation at national level. Initially, it was started as a programme under Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune on project mode and since May 1996 it attained the status of a full fledged Centre and is set out to be a major player in promoting scholarly communication among academicians and researchers in India.

Library Automation

The automation of University Libraries is an important activity of the Centre, since it is also a pre-requisite for networking of libraries and resource sharing under the INFLIBNET Programme. Realising the importance of this basic necessity, INFLIBNET through University Grants Commission has been providing grants (initial and recurring) to the universities identified under the programme. Every year 15-20 libraries are identified and initial grant to the tune of INR 6.5 lakhs is provided. This enables the university libraries to purchase computers, modem, telephone, printer, air-conditioner, softwares (OS) etc. These selected universities are also provided with recurring grant for the first five years after the installation of systems. Till now, 142 universities have been given grants for the automation purpose. The above support has given tremendous boost to the automation activities at the participating universities. The Centre has provided technical guidance, including configuration of the systems, modality, execution and retrospective conversion of the data, common standards, etc.

Development of Union database

The Centre has developed many databases to support libraries and academic community. Online National Union Catalogue of academic libraries is one of the important databases created over a period of time with different types of material (Books, Serials, Theses etc.), which comprises of eight million bibliographic records and provided building blocks for resource sharing infrastructure both at national and regional level for university libraries in India.

The Centre is also engaged in creating other databases, such as Experts, Research Projects, Experts in Science and Technology etc., which can be accessed online using Internet through INFLIBNET website www.inflibnet.ac.in.

Software research and development

The Centre has designed and developed a state-of-the-art comprehensive Library Management Software called SOUL (Software for University Libraries) through its R & D pursuits. It is aimed at accelerating the library automation movement in the country, which has gained lots of popularity in past few years and the installation base has reached to 1350 as on date across the country. This installation base includes Universities, Colleges, Research Centres, Institutes of higher learning etc. due to its user-friendly features and over 1000 orders for installations are in pipeline. It has generated a revenue of INR 3 cr. (approx) for the Centre.

Human Resource Development

INFLIBNET has been conducting various training courses/workshops of short and long duration; International Conventions like International CALIBER and PLANNER are regular features too. Several other types of training courses and workshops are conducted in collaboration with different national agencies like ICSSR / NASSDOC, All India Radio, DRTC, ICAR and Kendriya Vidhyalaya Sangattan(KVS), Govt. of Gujarat, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, etc. So far about 22500 professionals/academicians in various disciplines got benefited out of 342 activities and majority of them are from library, information and computers science disciplines.

UGC-Infonet

The Centre has been able to realise its one of the objectives by setting up a major communication network of universities and it has successfully interlinked 149 universities through UGC-Infonet which has been planned, implemented and monitored by INFLIBNET using ERNET India, New Delhi (a Govt of India society under Ministry of Information Technology) backbone with state-of-art technology.

Main features of UGC-InfoNet are:

Scaleable Architecture to grow nation-wide terrestrial backbone using fiber optic links
Integrated satellite WAN supporting broadband and SCPC technology
Comprehensive Network Management systems for overall monitoring of the network
Linkage with other academic and research networks all over the world
Security for data and virus protection using firewalls and intrusion detection systems
Dedicated Data Center for Web hosting, e-Journals and Mail Boxes
Broadband Multimedia and Video Channels for Distance Learning

1. UGC-InfoNet has become a vehicle for distance learning to facilitate spread of quality education all over the country.

2. UGC-InfoNet is tool to distribute education material and journals to remotest of areas.

3. UGC-InfoNet is a resource for researchers and scholars for tapping most up-to-date information.

4. UGC-InfoNet will form a medium for collaboration among the teachers and students not only within the country but all over the world.

5. UGC-InfoNet is an Intranet for University Automation.

6. UGC-InfoNet encompasses entire University System for most efficient utilisation of precious network resources.

7. UGC-InfoNet establishes a channel for Globalisation of Education and facilitate the universities in marketing their services and development.

Network Architecture of UGC Infonet

UGC InfoNet is based on open IP platform, employing state-of-the-art technologies like IP Multicast, TCP Spoofing and other Internet tools that provide interactive education on PC or TV, enabling on-line response to queries. Open systems architecture will ensure support for current and future applications.

Connectivity options for universities

UGC-InfoNet is overlaid on ERNET Infrastructure including a nation wide terrestrial backbone and a complimentary satellite Wide Area Network (WAN).? As such ERNET can provide a complete range connectivity options to the universities depending upon their location and bandwidth requirements. Efforts will be made to connect the universities on the terrestrial media. Alternately, a satellite connection will be provided through VSAT. Total bandwidth provided?by ERNET for domestic and Internet bandwidth are 288 Mbps and 96 Mbps in?last year which is expected to increase to 375 Mbps?and 125 Mbps respctively in the year 2007.

Digital Leased Lines

In the localities where telecom network is well-developed dedicated leased line will be hired from basic telecom service providers. Such links are primarily for 256 Kbps and 2 Mbps speeds.

Radio Link

The universities located within 30 kms of the ERNET PoPs will be provided with dedicated radio links operating from 256 Kbps to 2 Mbps speeds

ERNET operates a Satellite base Wide Area Network (SATWAN) using C-Band transponder on INSAT-3C. SATWAN hub, located at Bangalore, supports Broadband VSATs with up to 45 Mbps shared bandwidth and Single Channel Per Carrier (SCPC) VSATs capable of providing up to 2 Mbps dedicated bandwidth.

Satellite based Wide Area Network

ERNET operates a Satellite base Wide Area Network(SATWAN) using C-Band transponder on INSAT-3C. SATWAN hub, located at Bangalore, supports Broadband VSATs with up to 45 Mbps shared bandwidth and Single Channel Per Carrier (SCPC) VSATs capable of providing up to 2 Mbps dedicated bandwidth.

e-Journals Consortium

To promote higher educational system, its standard, quality research and bridging the digital divide amongst Indian Universities, INFLIBNET has initiated UGC-Infonet: e-Journals Consortium under UGC in the year 2004 under 10th Five Year Plan. During the last three years, effective implementation and execution of this programme has made it as one of the largest and successful consortiums around the world. Under the programme, over 4500 high quality peer reviewed priced full text scholarly journals in Science, Technology, Social Science and Humanities are provided free of cost to 124 universities through UGC Infonet infrastructure and about 60 lakhs articles have been downloaded during three of
operation. Through this initiative, savings to the tune of INR 350 Cr(approx.) has been achieved to the national exchequer in first two years(2004-2005).

Special drive for North-East and Jammu & Kashmir

A special annual programme for the benefit of professionals in all eight sister states in the North East region was initiated by way of organising PLANNER(Promotion of Library Automation and Networking in North East Region) in the format of Convention. Four such programmes were organised in four different states in collaboration with different universities in the region.

The Centre has been able to realise one of its objectives by setting up a major communication network of universities and it has successfully interlinked 149 universities through UGC-Infonet which has been planned, implemented and monitored by INFLIBNET

The response was overwhelming and attracted more than 1000 professionals from the region besides participation from neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh, Nepal etc. Moreover, under the aegis of Prime Minister’s Office a special drive for automation of college libraries in the region was under taken and SOUL software was supplied free of cost along with training.

The same scheme was also extended to Jammu and Kashmir Colleges. Special training for College Principals of these region was also organised to create greater awareness and ensure speedy implementation.

Consultancy and funded projects

The Centre has successfully carried out various projects funded by agencies like WHO, DST/ NISSAT etc. and providing technical consultancy services to various universities. The expertise of the Centre is also sought by Higher Education Department of Sri Lanka, BIS, NISO for standardisation, National Knowledge Commission, INDEST-AICTEconsortium, Department of Bio-Technology, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Government of Gujarat, Sakshat Portal, etc.

Future Programmes

Entering in Global Village (OCLC, NDLTD, etc.), promotion of e-Learning for remote users, emphasis on e-Journals/e-Books in colleges, digitisation and hosting of Indian academic contents including non print materials, Centre of Excellence in library, information and computer sciences, creation of national academic e-Archives, help in creation of institutional repositories in universities and colleges, high priority on lib automation and networking? of remote locations including North East, Jammu & Kashmir, etc., are some of the future programmes of the centre.

Tryst with ICTs-Digital Learning

Article

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 1, 2007

Vishwa Bharati Women’s Welfare Society was formed in 1951, in Srinagar, Kashmir, when some concerned members of the society came together and resolved to dedicate their services towards nation building through uplifting of the status of Women in the post Independent India. Starting from a one room cottage today the Society is successfully running a chain of institutions in different parts of the country. Vishwa Bharati Public School, Noida was started in 1988 and since then has grown to become one of the most reputed schools in NOIDA. Rashmi Kakroo (rashmikakroo@rediffmail.com), the Headmistress of the middle school, shares more about the school engagements with ICTs.

Schools have often had a love-hate relationship with the use of ICTs, though things are changing even as I write this. The Central Board of School Education, India has made it mandatory for schools to have computer education taught in classes. The pattern of assessment has also seen a drastic change, with no exams but a system of continual assessment till 9th grade. These decisions coupled with the fact that everyone is understanding the importance and the ease of using ICTs, the school has adopted innovative ICT practices and tools to get teachers and students alike acquainted with such usage and more importantly to make things simple!

ICTs in academics…

All this started really with a small computer lab, where BASIC was the only language taught. As the curriculum allowed for further computer education to be introduced, several computer labs and courses were initiated. The school boasts of computer labs for pre-primary, primary, middle and senior school students. Several courses are taught and students are encouraged to use computers for their regular assignments as well. The assessment system has also brought in new type of report cards, wherein the student performance is gauged periodically, and computerised graphs are used to show progress of the student individually or with respect to other students in the class. This helps parents also to monitor the progress chart of their children closely. Capacity building of the staff as well as the students for these processes is also ensured. Apart from this the whole school has LAN connectivity with every class being connected to the main server. A central announcement system has been installed to pass on the necessary information to all students and staff at any given point of the day

Going on the Web…

The school recently also got a website – www.vbps.info which though still in the nascent stages, has been made in-house and would simplify a lot of procedures by making genera; information, application forms, syllabi, etc. available for students and teachers online. Though, most of the school’s staff tends to believe that the manual system works fine, they also agree that the website does have the potential to change things- making them efficient and easy to use. Net connectivity is available at certain a number of systems in the school, though students are given little or restricted access to the Internet within school. This is mainly due to the surge in the number of students spending time on social networking sites and downloading materials which are far from academic. An attempt has been made to provide enough offline materials to students to work with.

For the teacher was talking too…

An innovative use of ICT has been seen in the usage of finger print identification for marking teacher’s attendance in the school. Like several software companies, the teachers have to mark their attendance by putting their finger across a system, which recognises them and marks the time of their attendance. This system makes sure that if a teacher is late, the accurate time recorded notices that, and the teacher can be marked absent. Punctuality has seen a drastic improvement and it has been noticed that teachers tend to spend less time talking to each other; often, they are seen rushing to their classes!

In the pipeline…

The school is planning to change the classrooms into smart classes wherein plasma screens will be installed and computer-aided education will be imparted to students. This would be a follow up on the connectivity, which has been brought to every class. A study centre will also be established wherein the teachers will work on the study material for the smart classes will be developed.

Things-they-are-a-changing…

The world’s changing with the Internet boom and the sudden inflow of knowledge which was initially thought of being erudite or for people of a higher stature. Things which were so difficult and out of reach are now taken as matter-of-fact. The changes in students who are exposed to all this are also tremendous. Though, all the knowledge and new technologies have also resulted in some common cases of improper usage on the part of the school community. Thus all this, has to be taken with a pinch of salt and a bit of caution. On the positive front though, things have become easy and the school community definitely more knowledgeable. Things seemingly common only for tech-savvy people are now normal for everyone around. Things have changed, sometimes making it tough to believe that this is the same school which I joined thirty years back!

Teaching Science with ICT

Most of the students today are found to be lacking in creativity, analytical and critical thinking, as the traditional approaches do not encourage students for analytical and critical thinking. Evidence from a number of disciplines suggests that oral presentations to large groups of passive students contribute very little to real learning. In physics, standard lectures do not help most students to develop conceptual understanding of fundamental processes such as electromagnetism, mechanics, etc.

It is difficult to imagine learning about science without practical demonstration. Labs are wonderful settings for teaching and learning science. They provide opportunities to the students to think about, discuss, and solve real problems. ICT (Information Communication Technology) can be used to enhance teaching and learning in the school curriculum. It refers to the use of a wide range of computer workstations and display facilities, software, specialist hardware, still and animated images, graphic calculators, etc.

Students can access a large range of information that included assessment materials from CD-ROMs, from the Internet and from resources prepared by their teachers. They can use these materials to carry out and test how well they understood, and could visualise a number of key scientific ideas. Using ICT, students could archive a high levels of motivation. This motivation provides a climate in raising students’ attainment in coursework. ICT can be an essential part of teaching, which improves students’ understanding of subject. Using ICT, students can simulate experiments and visualise the processes, which are otherwise abstract. Used as a follow-up to a real experiment, ICT is a great step forward in the teaching of science. It is amazing how many different experiments can be tried in a short span of time. There are some experiments, which, are too dangerous for pupils and yet they really ought to do, e.g. in Acid-Base Titration, they can experiment with a wide range of acids and bases more efficiently using ICT. Students’ achievement in a number of aspects of physics and mathematics can be promoted with the effective use of ICT. For example, diffraction, interference, beats and the Doppler effect, hard to demonstrate on blackboard, become so easy using multimedia animations. Similarly ICT grabs students’ attention in Biology for understanding some abstract concepts of cell biology and biomedical techniques.

Physics can be more innovative using multimedia as well as real life problems. Physics is a highly visual subject, and many concepts of physics can be best covered graphically. Figures do far more than algebra-based physics- often the graphics bear the main burden of the description. For example, in physics certain microscopic phenomenon such as double slit experiment for interference in which due to variation in wavelength the fringe width also varies, physically, it doesn’t seem feasible to represent this process in the class room but multimedia based teaching can show it more effectively.

Multimedia based physics teaching develops the interest of the students in the subject and help them to imagine a world governed by the fundamental laws of physics. Einstein has mentioned, “Imagination is more important than the knowledge”.

One of the most common methods to learn is by comparing and contrasting. Learning of diffraction, another important phenomenon, which is generally given with black and white image, can be more effective by using colour images.

Since physics applies to everything in nature, so it is quite reasonable to point out the applications of physics with the real world. Angle of a talus slope is determined with the help of static friction, ultrasound as an application of sound waves; water drops can be used as convex lens, thermograms, i.e., photographs made with infrared radiations, provides a useful method for measuring temperature as warm portion appears reddish whereas cold portion appears bluish.

Chemistry is the subject in which students try to understand natural phenomena systematically. Students often develop scientific understandings as a result of self-observations but this approach is problematic when the phenomena are unable to observe directly. Molecular phenomena are mainly shown in 2-dimension, but that can be explained more effectively by providing 3-dimensional view using multimedia. Multimedia-based chemistry teaching can help students to overcome the difficulties in understanding chemical phenomena.

Biology is the study of all spheres of life, related to our body and our surrounding. It is difficult to observe many biological processes such as internal structure of leaf, circulation of blood and DNA structure in the classroom scenario, but multimedia allows the students to observe these experiments in action.

With the continuously developed and improved web-based resources, teachers will have an opportunity to produce tailor made resources, at no cost, which will match the curriculum and the needs of the students. The resource can be used in a variety of ways.

Make the learning experience more interactive
Permit ‘virtual science’ experiments to be carried out in interactive Internet sessions
Allow teachers to freely share resources with colleagues and students at other institutions
Create more opportunities for students to learn independently
Make course documentation freely available to students and their parents
Explore, describe and explain number patterns
Apply and Practice number of interactive exercises to assess and consolidate their knowledge
Develop their vocabulary, logical thinking and problem-solving skills
Provide opportunities for students and ex-students to contribute directly (by producing web pages) and therefore to feel some sense of ownership and involvement
Develop their ability to think flexibly and innovativelySupport educational management more effectively.

ICT is not just about computers, it includes using tape recorders and video and digital cameras, these resources will prove invaluable in teaching and learning. For students with major physical impairments, severe dyslexia or impaired cognitive development, an on-screen grid can help them to communicate better. Having auditory feedback where the word processor ‘speaks’ each letter or word can enable improved access for many students. Development of information technology in education can be utilised in an exciting way to enhance teaching methodology and to move towards the familiar future from the remote past. Moreover, ICT provides professional and personal growth to the teachers.

Learning Curves

Free tool to create animations

Scratch is a new programming tool that allows anyone to create their own animated stories, video games and interactive artworks has been developed. Primarily aimed at children, Scratch does not require prior knowledge of complex computer languages. Instead, it uses a simple graphical interface that allows programs to be assembled like building blocks. The digital toolkit, developed in the US at MIT’s Media Lab, allows people to blend images, sound and video. Scratch is developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab, with financial support from the National Science Foundation, Intel Foundation, and MIT Media Lab research consortia. Scratch is now available to download for free and works with both Apple Macs and Windows PCs. A version of the tool is also currently being developed for the XO laptop, designed by the One Laptop Per Child Project. It is free to download from: http://scratch.mit.edu/download

Star rating for Malaysian school ICT usage

The Information Communication Technology (ICT) division of the Education Ministry in Malaysia will grade government schools on their usage of ICT with a star rating system similar to hotels.
Five-star rating would be accorded to schools where students used 80% of the computers and equipment installed during curriculum and extra-curricular activities. This is one approach of the division to measure the effectiveness of ICT in schools.

Out-of-school youths can still get high school diplomas

Four agencies opened the “E-Skewela: Ang Kwelang Eskwela Training Center” at the Tejero Elementary School to give out-of-school youths in Philippines a second chance at getting a high school diploma. E-Skwela is a project to bring technology to out-of-school youths as a way of intervening the vicious cycle of poverty. The E-Skwela training center in Tejero is the fourth in the country and the first in the region. Other E-Skwela training centers could be found in Cagayan de Oro City, Quezon City, and Bulacan. There are 20 computers with headsets at the E-Skwela Center in Tejero. The center caters to out-of-school youths and adults in four barangays but the people in other places can still enroll as long as they are out-of-school, regardless of their age. Screening of students, supervising the center, and overseeing the students’ performances will be done rigorously by DepEd personnel.

Tech-voc education in 140 Philippine schools

The Department of Education is set to implement technical-vocational education in selected 140 technical-vocational and trade schools in Philippines starting this coming school year. The strengthened technical-vocational education programme is a competency-based high school curricula for 18 priority subject areas jointly developed by the DepEd and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). In connection with this, some 1,539 Technical Vocational Teachers (TVE) in the country are now participating in a three-week related training being conducted at various regional training centers of TESDA starting last May 21 to June 8. By school year 2009-2010, the DepEd expects that the number of tech-voc schools in the country implementing this strengthened tech-voc education programme will increase to about 261 tech-voc schools.

Repository for Educators

Magazine

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 1, 2007

Knowledge Innovation for Technology in Education (KITE) Provides a knowledge repository for teacher educators and teachers on information about technology integration experiences. The KITE project visited schools, interviewed teachers about their technology integration experiences and organized those stories into cases for use in the KITE case library.
(http://kite.missouri.edu/jkite/browse.htm)

Technology integration learning environment, the tool assists teacher educators in utilizing KITE cases. The learners are presented with learning scenarios, given KITE cases to help them solve the problem in the scenario, and asked to develop products that demonstrate their learning.
(http://www.coe.missouri.edu/~tile2003/)

School Administrators' Technology Integration Resource (SATIR) is a bilingual Canadian initiative, which provides tools and resources to help school administrators successfully integrate ICT into curriculum in their school. The focus of this project is not on the basic skill development but on the development of ICT pedagogy integration skills of educators by sharing successful cases and practical ideas.
(http://www.2learn.ca/SatirRitas/SatirMain.html)

Preparing teachers for tomorrow (PT3) is a US federal grant programme for training future teachers in using modern learning technologies. Even though many pages of the portal website are currently offline, the PT3 resources database links to a abundance of documents, policies, strategies, tools, video case studies and many other resources provided by grantees and/or pedagogical faculties.
(http://www.pt3.org/resources.php)

ItrainOnline provides three categories of resources: Effective Training resources include guides for developing ICT workshop materials and strategies for promoting collaboration; a Multimedia Training Kit provides training lesson plans and modules for promoting skill development at different levels, from burning CDs and searching the Internet to creating databases; Topic-specific resources include handouts, slide shows, and workshop outlines for teaching ICT basics such as using the Internet and writing emails to advanced topics such as creating websites and presentations.
(http://www.itrainonline.org/itrainonline/english/trainers.shtml)

Teacher Resource Exchange, NGFL an easy-to-use database providing teachers and trainers with ICT lesson and training resources. One can find lesson plans, homework, and concise manuals for both primary and secondary levels that coincide
with over 20 academic subjects. Materials are geared toward helping students and teachers building ICT skills such as
creating/using databases, word processing, using presentation software and conducting online searches.
(http://www.tre.ngfl.gov.uk/)

TERC is organised around several lines of TERC's work in areas such as curriculum development, research, professional development, equity and out-of-school learning. Although it deals not specifically with ICT, there are indeed some interesting contributions on developing applications of new technology, school reform through research and technical assistance, exemplary models of professional development and a collection of online brochures, project websites etc. http://meet.terc.edu/ is about providing technology-professional development to Massachusetts educators.
(http://www.terc.edu/)

E-Tiger, the e-learning package is initiated by the Virginia Department of Education to train all school administrators in appropriate use of technology to support student learning. There are eight learning modules in the package addressing the issues, tasks and policy matters that must be resolved by administrators.
(http://e-tiger.org/)

4teachers supports the integration of ICT in the classroom by offering tools and online resources to enhance teacher's skills and knowledge in technology. Besides ready-to-use Web lessons, quizzes, rubrics, etc., there are valuable professional development resources dealing amongst others with the integration of technology into the teacher's curriculum and technology planning.
(http://www.4teachers.org/)

Teachers Evaluating Multimedia (TEEM) gives teachers reliable and objective evaluations of educational multimedia.
(http://www.teem.org.uk/)

ICT Portal for Teachers provides a gateway to Internet resources and websites for utilising ICT resources to enhance teaching and learning. Includes articles and reports describing training projects from developed and developing countries, templates for assessing teacher and student performance, articles on effective use of ICT in the classroom, downloadable software for incorporating ICT into classroom teaching and learning.
(http://www.unescobkk.org/ips/ict/ict.htm)

Intel Teach to the Future offers free comprehensive workshops which can be customised and utilised in teachers training. Ready-to-use materials include presentation slides, facilitator notes, and handouts for participants. The Intel Teach to the Future programme also provides face-to-face professional development. Participating teachers receive extensive instruction and resources to promote effective technology use in the classroom.
(http://www.intel.com/education/guide/topics.htm)

ASIA-Digital Learning

Article

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 1, 2007

Colombo University starts m-Learning

Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel has partnered with the University of Colombo to introduce an innovative concept, ‘m-Learning’, in the university.

The University of Colombo will design and compile the curriculum. Initially the course offered through “m-Learning” will be the “Executive Diploma in Marketing” (EDM). This programme is currently offered by the Faculty of Graduate Studies of the University of Colombo, and will be a stepping stone for students with only AL qualifications, providing them with an entry point to move further into pursuing the Post Graduate Diploma in Management and thereafter the Masters in Business Studies (MBS). The Executive Diploma in Marketing (EDM) will provide students with an intermediate level of knowledge to be applied in the marketing field.

MTC-Vodafone e-learning center leads the way to higher education in Bahrain

e-Learning is set to change the face of higher education in the Kingdom of Bahrain as a result of the recent opening of the MTC-Vodafone e-Learning Centre.

The centre, which is Bahrain’s first higher education e-Learning facility, has enabled the University of Bahrain to become a vehicle for e-Teaching and e-Learning. The centre focuses on promoting the adoption of wireless technology to support teaching and learning programmes across eight university departments. It can be accessed by 8000 students, and both staff and students are benefiting with 145 teaching modules already tailored for delivery on the university’s e-Network. The centre has a broader remit to cascade and share the knowledge and expertise acquired through the e-Learning and e-Teaching with other academic institutes and professionals throughout Bahrain.

UNESCO-SALIS e-Learning portal on information literacy

The Society for the Advancement of Library and Information Science (SALIS), India, in collaboration with UNESCO, has just launched a six-month project entitled Interactive e-Learning Portal on Information Literacy Competency Development Skills for South Asia.

The e-Learning portal will cover a number of self-learning modules, like Information Literacy Models and Standards, Information Communication Technology (ICT), etc. The portal will be developed using Moodle Open Source software. On completion of the project, the information professionals, educators and other persons may participate in the ensuing online course to enhance information literacy skills based on a set of interactive activities.

ICT access for the visually impaired in Bhutan

The teachers from the National Institute for Disabled (NID), Khaling and Drukgyel Higher Secondary schools are on training with Media LT, an NGO to spearhead the development of ICT for the visually impaired in Bhutan. The NID Khaling will function as the national centre for ICT particularly focusing on the need of the visually impaired. The NID Khaling, will open few more centre and provide assistance in ICT to all visually impaired people in the country on use and application of computers. The centre will also function as resource centre. The training is one of activities within the comprehensive package of creating a computer centre for the visually impaired at NID in Khaling. This training will enhance visually impaired people to improve their quality of work through Internet access.

ictQatar luanches e-Learning portal

ictQATAR and the Institute of Administrative Development (IAD) have launched an e-Learning portal, a new online educational tool for the country.

Now university students and employees in Qatar will have free access to a wide range of professional courses through new online educational tool. The government has developed the portal in collaboration with the Institute of Administration Development (IAD). The portal will provide users access to 4,000 free courses covering business and professional development, IT and computer software programmes.

Blogs replace blackboards as Singapore schools go high-tech

Blogs are replacing blackboards as Singapore moves high-technology into its classrooms as teaching tools.

Under the FutureSchools@Singapore programme, blogs, video-conferencing, tablet PCs, podcasts, 3-D software and interactive whiteboards will be available for learning. Five schools in the city state have been selected to pioneer the use of innovative teaching methods that harness info-communication technologies (ICT). Tech-savvy Singapore, one of Asia’s most wired nations, aims to set up 15 such schools at primary and secondary levels by 2015.

Corporate Diary: June 2007

Magazine

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 1, 2007

PARTNERSHIP

Satyam, IBM set up KidSmart centres

Satyam Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of Satyam Computer, along with Byrraju Foundation and IBM and Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), has set up two KidSmart centres in the Indian city Hyderabad.

Taken up on a pilot basis at the Boys Upper Primary School and Government’s High School, they expect to replicate it in other schools later. The IBM KidSmart early learning programme is a corporate community relationship initiative from IBM. It deploys latest hardware, software and educational materials to give young children with a stimulating environment. It is aimed at pre-school centres and primary schools.

Wipro Infotech signs MoU with AMU

Wipro Infotech, the India, Middle East and Asia Pacific IT Business Unit of Wipro Ltd, announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Centre for Distance Education of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Aligarh to act as the strategic IT services partner for the Institute.

Through the partnership, Aligarh Muslim University has engaged Wipro as the preferred IT partner for providing technology solutions and participating in the e-Learning initiatives at its Centre for Distance Education (CDE). Wipro will offer value added services in the form of imparting training by conducting seminars / workshops for students and university faculty members and technical staff in both academic and practical spheres. Wipro would also share Literature/Content/information on emerging trends in technology with the university for academic purposes.

HCL, Saba Alliance targets India

HCL Technologies, a global IT service provider; and Saba, the premier Human Capital Management (HCM) software and service provider have joined forces to provide Saba’s products bundled with HCL’s services to the customers.

The two companies will provide their services and relationships throughout Asia Pacific, mainly India, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. They are also planning to expand in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Saba will offer knowledge management services such as learning management, system implementation, performance management, talent management, e-Learning and courseware. The company already has its sales and marketing office in Mumbai.

The Indian customers will be offered Learning Management System (LMS) in-house, and Product Implementation system benefits. The Saba LMS, implemented by HCL, is a high level strategic solution for planning, delivering and managing events within an organisation; and includes e-Learning, re-skilling, talent, and employee first initiative.

Adobe to tie-up with schools in anti-piracy push

Adobe India plans to forge alliances with educational boards at the school level as part of its initiatives in the areas of building an employable talent pool and spreading awareness about the need to curb piracy.

It is looking at tying up with educational boards including CBSE and ICSE apart from extending its initiatives at university level. Adobe has tied up with the largest university in Tamil Nadu and are in talks with various other universities for partnership. The company would be providing software and training for faculty and students.

The company is working closely with Business Software Alliance (BSA) for preventing privacy. BSA along with Nasscom has churned out strategies to curb piracy. As a result, piracy in India has come down from 72% in 2005 to 71% in 2006. However, Adobe found that piracy of its software is about 90% and it is trying to bring this down.

PRMIA enhances their partnership with KESDEE in India

PRMIA (Professional Risk Managers International Association) has established a strategic relationship with KESDEE through a Private-Label Learning Portal. KESDEE has developed and hosted this private-label portal for PRMIA to train future Risk Managers.

PRMIA offers the only globally endorsed Professional Risk Manager (PRM) certification programme, pursued by over 1,800 active candidates from more than 90 countries. India has over 155 candidates who have already initiated this programme and over 385 new candidates who will start the programme this year.

KESDEE has developed “ePRM Coach” to be a comprehensive online tutorial for the Professional Risk Manager (PRM) Exam. KESDEE’s ePRM coach is designed in accordance with PRMIA’s exam structure and the prescribed study guide. This e-Coach is useful not only for those pursuing certification but also for everyone as valuable reference tool and benchmark of Risk Management competency as per Global Certification Standards. KESDEE also signed a contract recently with Standard Chartered Bank for the implementation of KESDEE’s financial e-Learning solutions globally. All 500 e-learning courses offered by the company will be made available to Standard Chartered Bank for the training of its staff.

PRODUCT

Tata Interactive Systems launches TOPSIM

Tata Interactive’s suite of business simulations – TOPSIM, which are being launched globally are made available to the UK market for the first time.

TOPSIM offers a rich and highly complex environment with a case-based approach. Over that period, it has been used by major corporations as well as by universities and business schools in Europe and, more recently, India and the USA.

TOPSIM is not e-Learning but blended learning with the emphasis on the classroom and where the learning is collaborative. As a team-based competitive simulation, TOPSIM requires that players show the ability to make strategic decisions as a team. As it simulates the whole business environment, it gives participants a bird’s eye view of business management and competitive dynamics.

TOPSIM Simulations are advanced and comprehensive models that simulate operating environments, used as innovative methods to teach business and management competencies. The simulated environments include business start-ups; a single business function; overall management of an enterprise; managing in global markets, and the macroeconomics of a country.

SkillSoft avails on-demand video

SkillSoft PLC , a leading provider of e-Learning and performance support solutions for global enterprises, government, education and small to medium- sized businesses, announced commercial availability of the Leadership Development Channel (TM), a unique collection of on demand video learning programmes featuring prominent thought leader and CEO content designed to accelerate performance and success at all levels of an organisation.

Building upon SkillSoft’s extensive library of rich web-deliverable learning assets, the Leadership Development Channel provides executives and managers with cutting-edge thinking in business and leadership in a dynamic, engaging and easily consumable video format.

SkillSoft’s Leadership Development Channel is a growing online library of over 450 video learning assets that can be accessed on demand for concise, just-in-time application-based learning. The Leadership Development Channel can greatly enhance existing multi- modal learning programs and is ideal for both individual and group learning experiences, including use as a meeting starter, for one-on-one coaching and during facilitated learning sessions.
The collection is regularly updated with new programmes and encompasses a wide range of online, live and on-demand video learning assets. In addition, select videos are available for download for use on portable devices, including cell phones, iPod and BlackBerry devices.

Infotech companies enter in educational sector

Many infotech companies like Microsoft, HP, Zensar and Cadence are working with NGOs to provide better infrastructural facilities to schools, teaching them the use of computers in their education.

Companies like Intel, Cisco, and Yahoo have been involved more directly in education programmes. Recently, Intel has donated INR 1.5 million to the Karnataka state government, India. Intel employees had invested 13,500 voluntary hours in educational institutes. While Yahoo! India employees have been working Parikrma Humanitarian Foundation to empower underprivileged children by providing them quality education. Recently, Yahoo! has inaugu-rated new school for slum children. Cisco Systems has partnered with educators, businesses, governments and community organizations to launch the networking academy programme, NetAcad. Cisco employee volunteers explain technical updates like VoIP to students.

PROJECT

Cisco to create virtual classrooms

In what could be termed as first time in India Bapatla Engineering College, an Andra pradesh based institute, has announced that it will deploy Cisco Digital Media System to extend the classroom environment and create anywhere, anytime learning experiences.

Cisco Digital Media System will virtualise the classroom environment with remote broadcast and viewing of lectures and on-demand materials. The college will stream live, sessions conducted by visiting professors and subject matter experts to the classrooms. Lectures can be viewed online in 15 classrooms and 40 e-class rooms simultaneously. The solution will also help the institute to simultaneously record and archive the sessions. This will help the students to refer the sessions at their convenience from their hostel rooms as well. The archived sessions is presented to the students over Cisco Video Portal, a web-based application that allows students to quickly browse, search, and view digital media interactively.

An e-Education Approach to Teacher Professional Development in China

Article

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 1, 2007

Education Approach to Teacher Professional Development in China

In China, substantial efforts have been made towards teacher professional development, and a continuing education system has emerged especially in the area of educational technology, which has become a major component of teacher professional competencies, as well as the prerequisite for teachers to step into the lifelong learning system. The article briefs these consistent efforts made and their consequences regarding the development of teachers’ lifelong learning system.

In China, substantial efforts have been made since the beginning of this century by Ministry of Education (MOE) and local governments for promoting teacher professional development, which have led to the emergence of a nationwide continuing education system with support of ICT (Information and Communication Technology). In 1999, the Rules for K12 Teachers’ Continuing Education were published through Decree (Issue 7) of MOE, in which the lifelong learning was regarded as the right as well as the obligation for teachers. According to this decree, all of K12 teachers are required to receive a round of trainings summing up 240 hours in five years, with inclusion of training on ICT skills.

In consistence with this, several action plans and proposals have been issued by the central government and MOE one after the other in following years.

Following these policies, a number of nationwide actions and projects for teacher continuing education were carried out, especially triggered by the National Project for K12 Teacher Continuing Education, which started in 1999 and was aimed at providing the learning opportunities for 10 million K12 teachers all over the country.

At the same time, curriculum reforms currently taken in basic education also raise a great demand on teacher training. Under this consideration, MOE also issued Guidelines on Enhancing Teacher Training on Pedagogy of New Curricula in Basic Education in 2004. It order to take advantage of expertise of teacher education, MOE organised two expert committees: National Steering Committee of Teacher e-Education (NSCTeE) and National Expert Committee of Curriculum Resources for Teacher Education (NECCRTE). NSCTeE has contributed to the establishment of Teacher Education Networking Union and the development of Educational Technology Standards for K12 Teachers (Section 3), while the NECCRTE has supervised the development of curriculum resources for teacher continuing education, 527 pieces of online courses have been selected from 976 works contributed by 22 education and training institutions over the country.

Teacher e-Education (TeE): A new concept in China

For the sake of facilitating teachers’ lifelong learning for and with ICT, a new concept called teacher e-Education (TeE) is emerging, which has both implications for institutions to provide sufficient learning opportunities to teachers with support of ICT, and for teachers to develop their competencies in employing ICT to improve their instructional practice.

MOE Proposal on Promoting Teacher e-Education in 2002 for the implementation of TeE

Speeding up the construction of information infrastructure for TeE Establish the technology standards for information infrastructure and learning resources;
Encourage a part of teacher universities to construct digital learning environment;
Enhance the construction of teacher training institutions with support of ICT;
Encourage and support the interactions and exchanges;
Support implementation of ICT education in rural and poor areas with computer donation in teacher universities and colleges.

Speeding up the construction of learning resources for TeE

Developing Satellite-TV and web based courses for distance teacher-education;
Encourage the adoption of multiple approaches in integrating TeE resources;
Construct resource center of regional teacher education;
Establish local resources center and make assessable to schools;

Enhancing the construction of pre-service education programmes on information technology education and education technology

Create programmes on ICT education;
Provide common courses educational technology for pre-service teacher students.
Improve professional competencies for junior faculty members working in teacher colleges/universities in 5 years.
Offer enhanced trainings on ICT education to the subject teachers of ICT.

Exploring new models of teacher education and instructional management in e-Education through research-based efforts

Carry out researches on approaches and models in ICT-supported educational reforms;
Explore effective models of using ICT to improve educational administration, instructional management and learning evaluation.
Facilitate the ICT integrating into curricula.

Enhancing the leadership, management and evaluation in the process of TeE

Make encouraging policies and assessment mechanisms towards the development of TeE.
Care for securities and qualities of information resources for teacher education by taking technical and human measures.
Carry out regular assessment/evaluation onto TeE related projects, made by MOE-appointed experts.

As for the promotion of TeE, MOE organised a special group called NSCTeE (National Steering Committee for Teacher e-Education) in 2002, with a dozen of established experts in the field of educational technology and information technology education as members.

Meanwhile, considerable amount of actions and projects have been initiated by local governments towards TeE. For example, regional teachers’ education center has been set up in HeBei province; in GanSu province. There have been 49 online courses available dedicated to teachers’ continuing education; and in Sinkiang, an autonomous province of largest territory in China, there have been 10 thousand teachers accessing over 50 online courses in trilingual of Mandarin, Uigur and Kazak in 2005.

Teacher Education Networking Union: A nationwide TeE platform

According to the rules for K12 teachers’ continuing education, it is the right as well as the obligation for all of K12 teachers (10 millions in total) to engage lifelong learning. As a realistic option for using ICT to facilitate teachers’ lifelong learning, the Teacher Education Networking Union (TENU) was established in 2003 under the leadership of MOE, with the purpose to provided a lifelong learning platform for 10 million teachers in China.

Initiated by several key universities such as Beijing Normal University, East China Normal University, Northeast Normal University, Central China Normal University, Southwest Normal University, etc., the union is now comprised of 12 organisational members, which is taken by MOE as a kernel TeE platform for teachers’ lifelong learning. Consequently, a number of provincial TENUs have been brought up. It is expected that every province will establish their TENU soon. In this way, a nationwide TeE platform for teachers’ lifelong learning will be set up in China, up linked to the kernel platform and down linked to country training centres and schools. The term networking wherein has the implications of establishing a network technologically (by means of satellite communication and cable links), geographically (linking undeveloped areas to developed areas) and organisationally (connecting universities and schools).

Standard-based training in technology for teachers

Educational technology has become an important element constituting teachers’ professional expertise. Early in 2000, the Basic Education Department of MOE issued a proposal which advance the demand on pedagogical use of ICT in all K12 schools. To reach this goal, K12 teachers certainly should learn how to use ICT and how to apply ICT in their teaching and lifelong learning. In 2004, MOE published the Educational Technology Standards for Primary and Secondary Teachers, which represent the first officially published standards regarding teachers’ professional development in China.

Training Curricula

The standard-based training curricula consist of three levels: Basic, middle, and advance level. Two versions of basic-level curricula were approved by MOE through a strict evaluation process in November of 2005. They have been published by Higher Education Publishing (called G-version) and by Beijing Normal University Publishing (called S-version) respectively. Two versions of middle-level curricula are under development and will be published in July of 2007. The authors of this article are developers of the S-version of basic-level curriculum.

Teacher trainees are asked to create a technology-integrated instructional plan from their coming soon teaching lessons. The curriculum present as a tri-part complex: book, DVD, and website. Abundant cases, templates and rubrics of instructional design are provided by means of DVD. The website is intended for trainees to
carry out reflective exchanges and experience sharing.

Training diffusion

This project has been firstly tried out in selected regions including Liaoning, Jiangsu, Henan, Guangxi, Chongqing, Yunnan and Ningxia provinces in 2006. With the experiences taken from the test period, a nationwide training diffusion starts up in 2007. The training diffusion takes a tri-tier model: as course developer, we trained the trainers at national level; the national trainers trained the trainers at province level, and then the trainings spread down to county and school levels. It is planned that the project will be accomplished till 2010, when all K12 teachers will receive a whole round of training on educational technology.

Blended training

Given that over 10 million K12 teachers have to be trained within 5 years, it is unimaginable to accomplish the project if only relies on face-to-face training. Thus a blended training strategy is adopted. The Teacher Education Networking Union (TENU) can serve for a TeE platform, providing nationwide support for online learning and training management. The authors of this article have developed web-based training courses of S-version through team efforts. Using these web-based courses, a pilot training was tried out for over 300 in-service teachers from Jiangsu, Henan and Fujian provinces by means online learning blended with limited face-to-face tutorials.

Certification

According to the policies made by MOE, trainees who fulfilled training and passed a testing will receive a certificate. The National Education Testing Center is responsible for developing and administrating the testing. Over 90 thousands of trained teachers took part in pilot testings up to the present.

As a nation with the largest population, China is faced with the tremendous challenges on providing lifelong learning opportunities for over 10 million teachers across the country. As a realistic solution, taking Teacher Education Networking Union as a platform, a countrywide framework for teacher e-Education is emerging in China. Meanwhile, to be successful in e-Education, teachers also should develop their competencies in ICT applications, and also bring their students into the era of e-Education.

Digital Learning India 2007

Article

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 1, 2007

The largest ICT and Education annual conference and exhibition is preparing ground for a take off! Preludes…

The third in the series Digital Learning India conference and exhibition on ICT in Education is scheduled to take place in the Hotel Taj Palace in the Indian capital city, New Delhi from 31 July to 3 August 2007. It is expected to be graced by over 1500 delegates from countries all around the globe.

The meeting with the conference programme advisory board on 7 May, 2007 at the India International Centre, New Delhi, was a curtain raiser of the conference that is being organised by the Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies, in collaboration with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Govt of India and UNDP.

Only 120.59 thousand schools imparting elementary education in India have computers in place, out of one million plus schools. Only 5.14 per cent Government schools have computers, while it is 30.52 per cent in case of Private managements schools. There is significant difference in percentage of schools having computer in rural areas (8.05 percent) and urban areas (30.07 percent). A significant difference is still noticed in the availability of teachers in rural areas (3.76 teachers) and in urban areas (7.40 teachers) and also in schools managed by government (3.62 teachers) and private managements (7.10 teachers).

Envisioned upon these backdrops, the conference has been scheduled with some discussion themes like ICT in Education policy, Content Development and instructional design, Teachers’ capacity building in ICT-enabled education, School management with ICT, e-Readiness of Higher Education, Online courses and Mentoring in higher education, Showcasing new tools and technologies in education, amongst other strategies and discussion points.

The Advisory Board met to discuss and deliberate on the agenda for the ‘coming soon’ conference- Digital Learning India 2007. The Meeting saw participation from the Programme Advisory Board members and other key resource persons from Government, Private sector and civil society organisations. The meeting was chaired by R Chandrasekhar, Additional Secretary, Department of IT, Government of India, and Co-Chaired by Subhash Khuntia, Jt Secretary, Department of Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Humans Resource Development.

The Jt Secretary pointed out that while the country is moving towards connecting all secondary schools with broadband, it is extremely important to keep the focus on making the teaching-learning process more effective. He said, the conference is happening in the right time and the conference participation and discussion will be even better than last year.

Ravi Gupta, Executive Director, CSDMS and the convener of the conference, while explaining the the main objective of the event said, it is to bring policy makers, leading private sector players, social investors in ICTs, academia, and civil society organisations to confer, consult and share knowledge on good practices of ICT4D for policy action and effective planning and implementation of programmes.

The members’ comments, feedback and suggestions on the conference agenda was quite encouraging.

Members’ suggestion on conference agenda

IT implementation in primary education should also be given due care;
To not reinvent the wheel and learn from Britian and Malaysia who have made huge investment in IT at school and smart school projects;
Central Board of Secondary Education should be called to justify the IT curriculum for school;
Need to discuss the certification procedure in the higher education process, need to understand the need of these students who do not feel confident with the present certification process;
There is a need for guiding principles for ICT enabled learning at the state level;
Questions were raised as to whether a policy of ICT in education that may define a framework will be welcome by the states- as education being a concurrent subject, the states are not under obligation to follow the framework- it was also pointed out that the states may find it useful to follow such a framework as in many cases the states are not aware and often look for guidance for ICT-enabled education processes;
Outcome of the conference should reflect on the policy of the government.

As the Jt Secretary said in his concluding remarks, lessons and inputs can be taken form the conference on key issues of ICT-enabled education, which will add to the knowledge sharing for effective ICT-enabled education in India

LATEST NEWS

EDITOR PICKS

Top Trending News

POPULAR POSTS

Top Trending Categories

POPULAR CATEGORY

Latest Articles